Press Releases & Coverage

Customer pilot program results in better outcomes for individuals and organizations

NASHUA, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Skillsoft has completed a series of live customer pilots as part of its
goal to deliver an enhanced adaptive learning experience through big
data. The efforts are powered by combining data from Skillsoft's 19
million users across 60,000 learning assets with IBM Research's big data
and analytics capabilities. The results of the pilot program revealed
that empirical, data-driven learning experiences were able to
distinctively enhance learner engagement.

Users' responses to the individualized content formed the basis of the
evaluation of the program. During the pilot, Skillsoft evaluated user
interaction from direct email response behavior and learning patterns as
well as through a survey of users and found concrete patterns indicating
improved engagement with learning content, including:

29 percent of users clicked on at least one recommendation in their
first email opened;

128 percent improvement in user engagement with content compared to
the baseline; and

84 percent of users stated that one or more recommendations were
relevant to them.

"We now have documented proof that harnessing analytics and big data
leads to improved learner engagement," said John Ambrose, Senior Vice
President, Strategy & Corporate Development, Skillsoft. "This level of
adaptive, personalized learning will be paramount in the Learning Age.
As the skilled worker shortage impacts organizations around the world,
it's crucial that learners are engaged and given the right tools and
content so they can quickly build their skills and fill the gap. Our
work with big data is a key building block for that next generation of
adaptive learning."

Content interaction of learners was analyzed using advanced machine
learning and optimization algorithms, and tested with approximately
32,000 learners during the pilot program. Each learner was presented
with a unique set of content recommendations that were tailored to their
specific needs, as inferred by the system based on user-content
interactions, content relationships and timing of consumption patterns.
Further, the recommendations were delivered via email at times deemed to
be optimal for the individual user with a visual supporting explanation
of the rationale of the recommendations.

"Working with Skillsoft was a tremendous opportunity to pair our
analytics capabilities with the wealth of user behavior information
Skillsoft is able to capture," said Anshul Sheopuri, Manager of Consumer
Modeling, IBM Research. "With the completion of the second phase of this
program, we're now able to demonstrate the power of big data in the
learning space."

Feedback from Skillsoft customers is reinforcing the value of improved
learner engagement in skill acquisition and career development. "TELUS
was excited and thankful to be considered as a partner in the big data
pilot," said Benny Ramos, Senior Career Development Consultant, TELUS.
"We were encouraged by the resulting trends and implications of how the
information could be used to provide a more personalized and dynamic
experience for our learners. We believe this initiative aligns to our
overall goal as an organization of raising overall engagement to make
our learning programs more effective for career development."

The next stage for the project will be to further fine-tune the
algorithms and roadmap their implementation into Skillsoft's products so
its customers and learners can begin to realize the value demonstrated
in the pilot program daily. Additionally, Skillsoft will expand its data
sets to include the human resources (HR) information now available
through its full learning-centric Talent Expansion suite, including the
offerings from SumTotal Systems, a Skillsoft company. This includes
learning, talent and workforce processes for SumTotal System's 3,500
customers and 49 million users worldwide.

Skillsoft is a pioneer in the field of learning and Talent Management
with a long history of innovation. Skillsoft provides cloud based
learning solutions for its customers worldwide, ranging from global
enterprises, government, and education to mid-sized and small
businesses. Skillsoft's customer support teams draw on a wealth of
in-house experience, flexible delivery platforms and a comprehensive
learning e-library to develop off-the-shelf and custom learning programs
tailored to cost-effectively meet customer needs. Skillsoft's courses,
books and videos have been developed by industry leading learning
experts to ensure that they maximize business skills, performance, and
talent development.

Skillsoft currently serves over 6,000 customers and more than 19,000,000
learners around the world. Skillsoft is on the web at www.Skillsoft.com.

Skillsoft, the Skillsoft logo, Skillport, SkillChoice, and Books24x7
are a partial listing of the trademarks or registered trademarks of
Skillsoft Ireland Limited in the United States and certain other
countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.